cannabisnews.com: Dutch Smoking Ban To Cover Coffee Shops





Dutch Smoking Ban To Cover Coffee Shops
Posted by CN Staff on June 08, 2007 at 12:55:34 PT
By Reuters
Source: Reuters 
Amsterdam -- A Dutch smoking ban will come into force in July next year for all restaurants and cafes -- including coffee shops where cannabis is the top attraction, the government decided on Friday."Coffee shops will be treated in the same manner as other catering businesses. They will be smoke-free," Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told NOS television.
"It would have been wrong to move towards a smoke-free catering industry and then make an exception for coffee shops. People would not have understood that."Establishments will not in fact have to be completely smoke-free. Proprietors will be allowed to set up a separate room or glass partition behind which people can smoke, but customers will not be served there to protect staff."Employees should not have to work in an environment were they are constantly exposed to the harmful effects of smoking," Balkenende said after the cabinet's decision on Friday.Amsterdam's renowned coffee shops, where marijuana can be smoked openly in a relaxed atmosphere, are one of the city's big draws for tourists.Coffee shop owners argue that the ban only applies to tobacco and was unlikely to hit them hard.Whilst commonly mixed with tobacco, marijuana can also be smoked on its own, especially in pipes, vaporisers and other contraptions.Soft drugs are officially banned in the Netherlands but under a policy of tolerance, buyers are allowed to have less than 5 grams of cannabis in their possession.Source: Reuters (Wire)Published: June 8, 2007Copyright: 2007 Reuters News ServiceCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #5 posted by schmeff on June 15, 2007 at 09:37:37 PT
"Marijuana can also be smoked on its own"?
Do tell!
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Comment #4 posted by Yanxor on June 09, 2007 at 08:18:04 PT
Pfft
Second hand tobacco smoke kills 52,000 people in America every year.Marijuana smoke, first and second hand smoke combined kill a total of um...0?
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Comment #3 posted by duzt on June 09, 2007 at 08:11:11 PT
no tobacco
hell i dont mind. I hated always being handed tobacco/hash joints in coffeeshops or sitting next to a tobacco smoker. There are already a few coffeeshops that don't allow tobacco and places like Sensi seeds shop. There is no way they will stop smoking herb but being near a tobacco smoker when I'm trying to smoke my herb is annoying.
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Comment #2 posted by whig on June 08, 2007 at 20:52:45 PT
Volcanos!
Give everyone a vapor bag and the employees never have to inhale smoke.
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Comment #1 posted by mykeyb420 on June 08, 2007 at 17:26:27 PT
a-dam
This will fly like a led blimp.
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